Vegas trip a chance to study

Associated Press

Published
9:07 pm EST, Saturday, March 3, 2018

Las Vegas

NASCAR's annual early-season trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway is an understandable favorite for many teams and drivers. This year's event, however, is about getting much more than a few hands of blackjack and the checkered flag.

For the first time, everybody is coming back to Vegas in six months for the opening race of the playoffs.

Each turn in Sunday's Monster Energy Cup Series race should provide experience and data to the drivers hoping to dominate the postseason this fall.

"There is definitely some added importance to this race with (Las Vegas) being in the playoffs," said Kyle Larson, who excelled in practice this week at the track where he finished second to eventual Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. last year.

"Hopefully we have a strong race, and if not, you know what you need to go back and work on to be better when you come back later in the year to benefit your playoff run," Larson added. "Not that this race when it was just a stand-alone event wasn't important, but anytime you can race at a track that you are going to come back at in the final 10, it's got some added importance to it."

While other tracks have downsized their NASCAR ambitions when faced with smaller crowds in recent years, Las Vegas has been eager to host a second race for several years, confident in its local fan base and the visiting fans who plan a vacation weekend around the March race.

The track finally got a second date last year when New Hampshire's second race was given to Vegas.

Xfinity: Kyle Larson overcame strong wind and two late restarts Saturday to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Larson earned his ninth career Xfinity victory and his first in Vegas, where he finished second in the Xfinity and Cup series races last year.